modena balsamic vinegar
aged balsamic Vinegar
is a authentic thick flavoured vinegar usually used
in Tuscan cooking. It is typically used as a salad
vinaigrette when combined with olive oil or as a marinade. It
is a traditional food product developed in Modena, Italy,
where it has been Produced since the Middle Ages and the
brand is protected by the Italian government. Unlike
most common vinegars, it is very dark and thick with a complex,
sweet flavor and is much more expensive. True Balsamic
vinegar has been aged in casks fifteen years or more.
The primo balsamico vinegars
have nothing else added to them - only
the trebbiano grapes. Lesser common vinegars will add brown sugar or caramel
to mimic the sweetness of the better ones. If a company
produces a "traditional" aged balsamic vinegar,
they will also develop a less expensive, but high quality
vinegar as well.
View
our free Balsamic Recipes.
Oil and vinegar Balsamic Dressings.
Balsamic vinegar is Created
by reduced white grapes (typically,
trebbiano grapes) that has been boiled down to approximately
50% ("must") and fermenting that into alcohol.
It is then once again fermented to balsamico vinegar,
with a slow aging process
done in wood casks that concentrates
the flavours. The flavour is magnified over years,
with the vinegar being kept in fine wood barrels, becoming
sweet, syrupy and very concentrated in flavor. Some
older balsamic vinegar is added to the "must"
to produce a more complex and intricate taste, and to
add acidity.
The thick syrup is transferred
to oak casks to ferment in the open
air and then begins the long evaporation and aging process
that makes aged balsamico vinegar unusual. Balsamic vinegar
does not go bad after opening as oxygen is part
of the aging process, you can cherish your finest bottle
and use it on special recipes. Do
not overheat or cook balsamic vinegar
as it will ruin the flavour.
As a key ingredient
in vinaigrette dressings, balsamic goes
especially well with olive oil. Olive oil-balsamic
vinaigrette is outstanding with seafood,
artichokes and asparagus. A balsamic salad dressing does well
with winter veggies such as carrots, turnips, squash
and sweet potatoes, as well as fresh mixed greens or
baby spinach.
The Mediterranean diet,
characterized by cuisine such as Italian food, has been
gaining popularity in North America, where the consumption
of traditional Mediterranean foods, such as cold pressed
olive oil and balsamic vinegar, has been increasing.
Many people are finding this diet as a healthy alternative
to fatty foods and deep fried food preparation.
